Investors were keeping a close eye on Capitol Hill as politicians began returning from their Christmas vacations Thursday, as evidenced by severe movement in the major U.S. stock indexes that seemed to relate to news coming out of Washington on "fiscal cliff" negotiations.

Stocks dove in the morning after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., voiced skepticism about a deal on the combination of tax increases and spending cuts scheduled to take place at the end of the year unless Congress can pass a substitute that the president will sign. After trading down by more than 1 percent most of the day, prices rebounded sharply with less than two hours to go in the session, immediately after the leader of the majority Republicans in the House of Representatives, John Boehner, announced that he would call his chamber back into session Sunday in an attempt to pass a fix.

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While investors were cheered by the promise of a Sunday House session, the tone was negative between the two leaders, as Reid said Boehner seems "to care more about keeping his speakership than keeping the nation on a firm financial footing," and Boehner countered that "Reid should talk less and legislate more if he wants to avert the fiscal cliff."

In the end, stocks dipped for a fourth consecutive day, but losses were minimal, with all three major U.S. stock indexes dropping between 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent after a roller-coaster day that Business Insider managed to peg to the day's news with a spectacular chart.

Investors have held on to the belief that politicians will come up with some last-minute solution, even if only a short-term patch, to the issue, which has kept indexes from tumbling further. The announcement of a House session on Sunday -- the day before New Year's Eve -- seemed to play in to those thoughts.

"This market has held up remarkably well recognizing that this is political theater and that there is a decent chance that some bridge will be built at the last minute," Hank Smith, chief investment officer at Haverford Trust, told Bloomberg News. "Dec. 30 is a Sunday. They're making all of this extra effort to save the day at the last minute."

"I'm not convinced it will result in a deal, but you could get enough concessions by both parties to at least avoid the immediacy of going over the cliff," Randy Bateman, chief investment officer of Huntington Asset Management, told Reuters.

The uncertain future for the U.S. economy is already having an effect, as Americans are growing more pessimistic about the near future. Consumer confidence tumbled, with Americans' outlook for the next six months hitting the lowest level this year. Decision Economics economist Pierre Ellis called the drop "obvious confirmation that a sudden and serious deterioration in hopes for the future took place in December -- presumably reflecting concern about imminent 'fiscal cliff' tax increases."

Tim Cook's stock awards spread out to his lieutenants

Apple's day on Wall Street mirrored overall indexes, though the Cupertino tech giant managed to rebound to daily gains after revealing in a public filing that compensation for CEO Tim Cook dropped 99 percent in 2012.

Cook, who was the highest-paid Silicon Valley executive in 2011 after being awarded large chunks of stock options upon following Steve Jobs to the CEO chair, saw his overall compensation drop from $378 million in 2011 to slightly less than $4.2 million in 2012.

The company spread its stock awards around to other executives in 2012, with several of Cook's top lieutenants receiving more than $60 million in stock bonuses this year, including Chief Financial Officer Peter Oppenheimer, Senior Vice President Robert Mansfield, General Counsel Bruce Sewell, and Jeffrey Williams, the company's senior vice president of operations.

Apple's share price -- which has been on a steady decline in the fourth quarter, keeping the company in "bear market" territory -- increased 0.4 percent to close at $515.06 after the New York Times noted improvements at factories building Apple's consumer devices, part of a long series of pieces that have previously been a black eye for the company.

PC stocks drop, Marvell will try to void $1.2 billion judgment

Other Silicon Valley tech companies couldn't match Apple's gains, as the SV150 index dropped 0.2 percent as companies heavily invested in the personal-computer business continued a poor 2012 showing.

One of Wednesday's biggest losers, Santa Clara chipmaker Marvell, continued to fall Thursday even as the company said it would seek to void a jury's patent-infringement ruling against it. The stock lost another 3.5 percent in Thursday trading after a 10.3 percent decline Wednesday.

And the widely watched Standard & Poor's 500 index: Down 1.73, or 0.12 percent, to 1,418.10

Check in weekday afternoons for the 60-Second Business Break, a summary of news from Mercury News staff writers, The Associated Press, Bloomberg News and other wire services. Contact Jeremy C. Owens at 408-920-5876; follow him at Twitter.com/mercbizbreak.